In the first half of the 1980s, Polish alpine skiing was female. The twin sisters from Zakopane, Dorota and Malgorzata Tlalkowny, entered the world top. And then the authorities and the press treated them like air ...

Dorota's greatest success
On 14 December 1984, a special slalom competition was underway in Madonna di Campiglio, a small Italian town with a current population of seven hundred, as part of the Alpine Ski World Cup. Conditions were difficult, with snow falling continuously. After the first run, the high third position was occupied by a Polish woman. It was Dorota Tlałka, and on the same day she went down in the history of red and white skiing.

Before the decisive run, Perrine Pellen from France was in the lead. The second run by the Zakopane skier was perfect. She skied with courage, bravado and a time of 1:47.90 allowed her to take the lead. She did not relinquish the lead until the end of the competition, thus becoming the first Polish woman, and the second representative of her country in general, to win a competition included in the prestigious World Cup. Earlier, in 1972, Andrzej Bachleda-Curus won in the men's competition. When the emotions had subsided, she told reporters:

"It's fantastic, but I have to admit that the success came when I least expected it. She drove brilliantly in the first run and I couldn't imagine that she could be overtaken. The final result exceeded my wildest expectations."

Unlucky second ...
16 January 1983. Schruns in western Austria hosted the world's best female alpinists. A total of 103 athletes appeared on the start line. Among them were the Poles: Ewa Grabowska, the aforementioned Dorota and her twin sister - only five minutes older - Małgorzata. The weather was not conducive to good runs. But not an accident for the Red-Whites.

Malgorzata Tlalka was first after the opening run of the special slalom! The prediction of the sisters' coach, Andrzej Kozak, who claimed that they were ready to fight with the world's best, came true. The Pole's second run was also good, but a mistake happened at the top of the slope. It cost Margaret losing the lead to Austrian Kronbichler. She narrowly missed out, by 0.19 seconds... And many years later, this is what she said about that "unlucky" second place:

"In Austria in Schruns Anni Kronbichler, who won, should have been disqualified. I was second at the time. At that time, there were no such opportunities for view and analysis as there are now."

Time has shown that these two starts for both Dorothy and Margaret were the best in their sporting careers. Indeed, in the 1980s the Tlałkówna sisters were the skiing export commodity of communist Poland.

Pure water talents
They were born on 27 April 1963 in Zakopane, in a very sporty family. Their father, Jan, used to be an excellent track and field athlete, breaking national records for 5 and 10 kilometres. Mum, Stanisława, was a cross-country skier. And so well that she was called up to the national team.

Dorota and Margaret were written about as early as 1979. They were only sixteen years old, and were already successfully competing at the national senior level, for example in the Polish Cup in Skrzyczne. They learnt skiing in WKS Legia Zakopane, under the watchful eye of coach Stanisław Gogólski, later Andrzej Kozak and Tadeusz Kaim. They had great talent...

In the early 1980s they enchanted fans. Although skiing has always been a very popular sport in Poland, practised by millions, the nature and training conditions were different from those of the Alpine skiers from Austria, Italy, France or even the former Yugoslavia. The Tlalkowna sisters, as if in spite of this, made their way to the world's top. They were young, feisty and courageous.

At the beginning of 1982, both looked phenomenal. Dorota had a fantastic performance at the world championships in Schladming, Austria, where she finished fourth in the special slalom. She missed the podium by 0.2 seconds. Skiers travelled abroad even though martial law was in force in the country. But the authorities were happy with their sporting successes. It was possible to build state-friendly rhetoric on them. That is why the twins left without hindrance.

After the championships, the talented Dorota was taken to a press conference.

"I am very happy with the fourth place won today, of course I would have called for a medal, but the most important thing, however, is that my sister and I have made a lot of progress this season," she said. She could not have predicted that next year would be even better!

Throughout her career, Dorota Tlalka has checked in on the podium of World Cup competitions five times. She was third three times (Montgenèvre, Les Diablerets, Bad Gastein), second once (in Oslo) and won once, in the Madonna di Campiglio mentioned at the beginning.

Her sister scored more podiums, with eight (five times third place, three times second). However, she has never won. When asked if she ever envied her twin sister that historic triumph, Margaret said:

"Fortunately, our parents managed to bring us up in such a way that one did not envy the other's successes. On the contrary, the success of one motivated the other. It showed that it was possible. We rode very similarly, very evenly at all the tests. We knew that there were two of us and that we had a better chance of Tlalka going down well."

A hair away from a medal!
During the Sarajevo Games, the sisters were mentioned among the medal candidates in the special slalom. On the slopes of Jahorina, in dense fog and poor visibility, Malgorzata skied very well. She lost 1.5 seconds to the sensational winner, 19-year-old Italian Paola Magoni, and 0.43 seconds to the bronze medal. To date, this is the best start by a Polish skier at the Olympic Games.

In Sarajevo, the Tlalkowna sisters were unlucky. Dorota lost her goggles in the first run and fell off the course. Małgorzata competed with a previously injured hand. Even before the start, she was going down to the pantry to get some preserves. She fell, carrying jars in her hands. One of the jars broke and severely injured her hand.

The unfortunate chain of events is confirmed by the words of her coach, Andrzej Kozak, who later said:

. "For me Gośka is a heroine, she competed with an injured hand, I heard her hissing in pain at the start. Sixth place does not satisfy us, of course; although it is the highest place of a Polish alpine skier in the Olympic Games and World Championships. I was supposed to resign from the national team after the season, but now sporting anger has awoken in me. We still have to show that we can win!".

Life has written a different scenario...

The French affair
In 1985, the news cooed that the sisters had left for France. Dorothy was married to Christian Mogore in France, gaining French citizenship and the opportunity to train and compete there. Margaret, not wanting to part with Dorothy, entered into a marriage of convenience with Christian's brother. The French union later introduced them as representatives of their country. The twins claimed that abroad they would have the chance for better training. Chances to develop. But the state authorities and the activists treated them like traitors, just like any other citizen who dared to leave the People's Republic of Poland and go beyond the Oder. On top of that, going abroad or changing coaching staffs made some people in PZN "afraid for their posts". At least that is what the skiers claimed.

"We had no choice. Poland was offended at us. I remember how the Polish activists came to the competition and, seeing that we were entered as Polish women, led to us being withdrawn. Because they showed that they didn't declare such representatives and they don't have such representatives. We were in training and ready to compete for a month and a half, and we couldn't compete."

The domestic press was in an uproar. From heroines, the twins became undesirables. One opinion piece stated:

"The twins, should be disqualified by the PZN and suffer all the consequences resulting from the imposition of the disqualification. This speaks, diplomatically speaking, for our raison d'etre. Just as the raison d'etre, of the state, speaks in favour of taking away the passports of refugees from the country."

And indeed, on 14 December 1985, at a meeting of the Polish Ski Association in Bielsko-Biała, the activists passed a unanimous resolution to disqualify the Zakopane-born skiers for a year and deprive them of the opportunity to compete in the national team. They returned to the slopes, but now skiing for the "Tri-colours". In these colours they competed at the Calgary Olympics. Malgorzata was 19th in the giant slalom. Dorota was 8th in the special slalom. The sisters were constantly "pinned" at the Games. They were written about ironically, sometimes with contempt. At the same time, it was emphasised that our skiing did not lose without them. During the Olympic competition, the "Trybuna Robotnicza" even questioned the legality of Dorota and Małgorzata's start:

. "How was it that the Mogore sisters were allowed to compete in the colours of their new, chosen homeland, while Kinshofer, who had married a Dutchman and wanted to represent the Netherlands, won a medal for West Germany? Didn't the first ones have a rule that only one country could be represented at the Olympics?".

They were a grain of pea on which they wanted to sleep. The skiing scandal quietened down when the regime changes took place. Since 1989, female skiers have not been treated as persona non grata. Małgorzata decided to return to Zakopane. It was 1993 when she settled back in her home country. Today she is active in charity work, has set up a foundation and promotes sport among the disabled. Dorota remained in France. Both received state honours in 2019. And these, after all, are not awarded to traitors....